Wednesday, January 16, 2019

This week's history video is about San Jose's gateways and arches. Did you know that San Jose once had a welcome gateway for visitors near the Basset St. station on North First Street? Or that after the electric tower fell, the city built a gateway with an electrified San Jose sign?

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

I'm a big fan of movies and was devastated when my favorite theater--Camera 12 shut its doors. Finally there is a new movie theater in San Jose that has enough character to fill those shoes and elevates the movie watching experience to the next level.

ShowPlace Icon is a 10-seat movie theater spanning two floors and 60,000 SQFT in Valley Fair Mall. All 1,474 seats are reserved loungers with electric footrests and heaters. Their largest theater is a 281 seat ICON*X premium large format room with a 4k laser projection and Dolby Atmos sound. What really made Icon stand out for me was the VIP section upstairs for those 21 and over. Up there you will find surprisingly good craft cocktails, an adult take on Icee's with flavors like "Frozen Margarita," a great food selection, and bacon popcorn. The whole floor looks like a lounge and has comfortable seating throughout. After entering their largest movie theater from the VIP section, you'll soon realize you are on a private balcony where you can continue to enjoy your fancy beverages and food. This is a great design that I hope others will copy.

I was fortunate to get a media preview of The Upside (great movie by the way). The seats were at least as comfortable as the recliners at CineArts or Cinemark Mountain View. The food and drink are for sure the best you can find in any South Bay movie theater. The video and sound quality were exceptional, we're talking IMAX-level. I also like the finishing touches throughout the theater like photos of San Jose and portraits of actors born in the Bay Area.

You can reserve a seat now at www.shoplaceicon.com. Prices are in line with other theaters and I highly recommend checking them out.

Monday, January 14, 2019

As we already know, San Jose has one of the best performing economies anywhere. That does not seem destined to change anytime soon based on a new report from Oxford Economics. They are predicting that San Jose will have the fastest growing urban economy in the world over the next 16 years.

If the 3% GDP growth rate is correct, that means our economy will be 50% larger by 2035. The growth rate dwarfs San Francisco but would still not put us anywhere near New York or Tokyo in total economic contribution. However, those cities have much larger populations to work with. We do have the highest GDP per capita in the United States, which contributes positively to salaries and investment.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

This week's history video is about San Jose signs. As you'll see in the video, the mid-century trend was neon. It would be amazing to restore the few signs from the video that are still around to their original glory.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Jordan from Searchlight San Jose has written about one of my favorite hidden gems in Downtown San Jose -- Orchestria Palm Court. This is undoubtedly one of the most unique restaurants in the Bay Area and is well worth a visit. It's part museum, part entertainment, part time-capsule (all the way down to the restrooms), and in-and-of-itself a solid restaurant. They even have a soda jerk bar!

Thursday, January 3, 2019

The San Jose scooter fad may come to a halt due to new legislation. Last week, the San Jose City Council passed stringent laws against scooter companies to help mitigate the serious safety concerns they present for residents.

To continue operating in San Jose’s city limits, scooter companies, such as Lime, Bird, and Wind, must receive a permit, pay an annual permit application fee of $2,500 and fork over $124 per scooter each year to continue operations. But with an estimated worth of $1 billion and $1.1 billion, these fees are merely chump change to Bird and Lime.

The real hard-hitting legislation is that these companies must also protect the city from legal claims and obtain sizable insurance. In addition to a rise in scooter-related injuries, scooters pose a serious threat to an already seriously high rate of pedestrian accidents in San Jose. To help combat these statistics, the ordinance will limit scooter speeds to 12 MPH, and come July, will force companies to find a solution to keep scooters off public sidewalks.

If companies fail to keep scooters off public property, the ordinance requires a 24-hour customer service line in three languages, English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, to respond to reports of improperly stored scooters within a two-hour window. Companies will also have to consider the socio-economic impact of their service: the ordinance mandates scooters will need to be equally distributed to low-income areas and provide discounts to low-income users. User data will be shared with the city of San Jose to track the number of devices and user behavior.

Any violation of the rules above will cost companies $100 for their first offense, rising to $500 fines for repeat offenders, with the possibility of having their permits revoked.

But San Jose is far from the only city passing stringent laws. Many cities nationwide are facing the duality of scooter presence; on one hand, scooters are eco-friendly and low-cost, but on the other hand, they pose a serious personal injury and public safety threat.

Since the birth of e-scooter dockless sharing began in February of 2018, it has helped San Jose towards its goal of climate change consciousness and Vision Zero. This being said, it has also birthed and exacerbated issues of pedestrian safety, equitable access, and rider education.

Though the ordinance is expected to come into practice by February, it is possible 2019 can bring even more changes for scooter services and rider expectations to best fit the needs and demands of San Jose city life.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

This week's history video is about waterways and floods. Interestingly enough, in 1915 the Guadalupe River was briefly dammed to great a lake in Downtown San Jose (photo below). Another interesting tidbit is that Alviso has been flooded more often than any other part of San Jose (likely the reason why the region never took off).